Students to tackle e-waste with disposal

Wednesday

Apr 23, 2014 at 9:39 AM

Luke Smucker

Across half the country, it is illegal to send electronic waste or “e-waste” to the landfill. In Illinois, since 2012, law states “no person may knowingly cause or allow the mixing of waste with any other computer, computer monitor, printer, or television that is intended for disposal by burning or incineration.” Generally, e-waste consists of computers, discarded office electronic equipment, entertainment device electronics, mobile phones and television sets. The National Environmental Protection Agency reports that e-waste is the fastest growing municipal waste stream in America because nationally, only 12.5 percent of e-waste is recycled. On May 9, residents in the city of Pontiac have an opportunity to break the e-waste cycle by recycling old electronics properly. Anyone wishing to get rid of old consumer electronics simply has to set out the waste on the curb in the morning and a group of junior and senior-level high school students led by Doug Masching, a computer maintenance instructor at the Livingston Area Career Center, will take it away.The opportunity is made possible through a partnership between Advanced Technology Recycling, a full-service certified electronic recycling company headquartered in Pontiac, Paul Ritter, a science teacher at Pontiac Township High School and Masching. The event coincides with the 14-year-old annual PTHS Storm Drain Project, in which PTHS earth science students led by Ritter and other faculty, along with eighth-grade students from Pontiac Junior High School, walk around town picking up litter and spray-painting storm sewers. The goal is to remind residents to keep the Vermilion River clean.Masching says the biggest issue for the e-waste recycling day, is a lack of knowledge — both about what e-waste is and of the event itself. Masching’s hope is for people to recognize that disposing of e-waste improperly is a problem in Livingston County and it is one that can be easily remedied during the event.“There are many chemicals in computer parts that can leak through the landfill and end up in our water supply,” LACC Senior Madison Pfaff said. “I think a lot of people don’t know what to do with our old electronics. We offer an easy option to help people make the environmentally conscious choice.”When these items get recycled, Masching said there are a lot of parts that can be re-furbished. The recycling center also has access to other businesses who can make use of the parts in ways the public may have never considered.“At ATR, we really think this program is something good for the public to take advantage of,” Barb Ehresman, CEO of ATR said. “We get more e-waste in than on an average day and it’s great working with the students because it not only helps residents, but it also teaches students about the various ways we can recycle.”Ehresman said to keep in mind that ATR will not take a television if it has been previously taken apart. There is a hazard that comes from the lead. Sometimes people will try to take the copper out of their old TV sets and they break into it to do that. “We also won’t take appliances,” Ehresman said. “Any kind of home entertainment including TVs an monitors can be set out. How many people have an old cellphone just sitting in a drawer somewhere? People just get these things stuck in their closets, so if you want to save some space and get rid of things properly, this is a good time to do it.” Most of the residential items received by ATR end up being recycled as opposed to being refurbished due to the age and quality the content is received in. However, Ehresman said when businesses recycle items, often times those computers and pieces of electronic equipment can be refurbished.“Even though it may not seem like electronic waste and the water systems could be closely tied together, they really are,” Masching said. “Everything eventually decomposes and the chemical by-products these items produce were not meant to be leaking into the environment.”